Hipster robots and cuddly AI take over Las Vegas – Financial Times
Do you need a $500 noise-reducing ice cube maker? What about a giant hologram machine, or a lolly that makes music while you eat it?
The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas offers a glimpse into the gadgets of the future. The week-long annual trade event, organised by the Consumer Technology Association, stretches the definition of consumer goods. Walk into one of many exhibition centres — a furious cacophony of screens and thumping music — and you’ll find full-sized personal aircraft and manufacturing robots alongside gaming devices and smart watches. Anything that fits into the “futuristic” category can find a space in the millions of square feet of exhibition space.
Unsurprisingly, the focus is heavily towards artificial intelligence this year — with AI infused in everything from toothbrushes to cuddly toys. At the booth of Chinese tech company Tuya, a row of pandas, puppies and Labubu dolls lie motionless, having already been petted to death by the hundreds of visitors who have played with them throughout the day.
One model that still has some battery is a chunky cat with gigantic blue eyes. It responds to cuddles but if you shake it around too much it will complain of dizziness. The assistants at the booth say that it can act as a journal, storing the things you say to it in an accompanying smartphone app. Given it is aimed at children, they are careful to mention the safeguards that are in place to ensure it doesn’t prompt users to, for example, “kill their parents.”
The show is known as a mad scramble with over 4,100 exhibitors vying for attention. The advice from veterans is to fortify yourself with one of Vegas’s supersized breakfasts before stepping into the centre. At Hash House A Go Go, at the south end of the Strip, my mocha arrives in a pint glass, fused to the saucer by caramel and chocolate sauce.
And if you’re daunted by the scale, fear not: Elon Musk’s The Boring Company has built an underground tunnel system that can ferry you between different halls. Descend the escalator and you emerge into a neon-lit garage filled with personnel in hi-vis jackets and are shepherded into a parking space queue. When a Tesla shows up you hop into it, alongside whichever strangers you’ve been paired with and a driver.
While Tesla is developing driverless cars — and Uber is showing off its robotaxis at CES this year — its vehicles are still not fully automated. So we make small talk with the driver for the two minutes or so it takes to reach our stop. It’s a glimpse of how public transportation in America could be one day, although for now it runs for just a couple of miles.
Back in the conference hall, I meet Nylo, a humanoid robot dressed as an archetypal west coast hipster in a white shacket and beanie. IntBot’s robot, which is holding court by itself without any human minders to intervene, is one of the more eye-catching exhibits. Like many of the inventions at this year’s show it aims to demonstrate the idea that a new era of intelligent devices — ones that can understand and even pre-empt our every need — is coming.
For a few years, CES seemed to be falling out of favour. Big Tech companies prefer to announce new gadgets at their own events. And while the show is a celebration of tech consumerism — the slogan of South Korea’s LG, “life’s good”, lights up the entrance to one exhibition hall — tariffs combined with inflation have driven American consumer sentiment to historic lows.
Luckily for CES, the appearance of Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang at this year’s convention, stealing the show with a presentation that included him chatting with Star Wars-style robots, has helped to revive the event’s popularity.
His presence is a reminder that business is going on behind the scenes here. As more humble visitors pound the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Centre, tech executives are holding meetings in hotel rooms high above. At night, celebrities can be spotted at networking events. One party featured an after-midnight appearance from Snoop Dogg.
The entire industry, from Big Tech behemoths to the smallest start-ups, is gripped by the promise of superintelligence. And it seems to have given CES its mojo back.
